SGE Snippet Research: We Analyzed 100K Keywords to See Google’s AI in Action

SEO and Content Marketing Expert at SE Ranking. Yevheniia blends strategic thinking with hands-on research to create insightful content on SEO, marketing, and AI in search.

Reviewed by SEO Specialist at SE Ranking. Ivanna has experience in content marketing, technical SEO, building and performing successful SEO strategies.

Feb 26, 2024

Search Generative Experience (SGE) stands as one of the most significant recent developments in Google search. That’s why the SE Ranking team conducted an extensive analysis of SGE responses across a wide sample net of keywords and niches.

We handpicked 100,000 keywords with various search intents and search volumes across 20 niches. Leveraging our newly developed feature capable of detecting SGE responses in Google search, we analyzed them for the US (New York) region. This uncovered insights such as how often Google provides AI-generated responses, the length of SGE content, linking patterns, and differences across niches.

TL;DR:

• 64% of the analyzed keywords either have an SGE answer or a Generate button.
• The average text length of the SGE snippet is approximately 3,485 characters.
• The most common number of links in the SGE answer after expanding is 8 links.
• 85.5% of SGE snippets link to one or more domains from the top 10 organic results.
• quora.com, local.google.com (Google Maps), and en.wikipedia.org are the most linked domains in SGE.
• Keywords from the Food and Beverage niche trigger SGE snippets most often, while the News and Politics niche gets SGE responses less often.
• SGE snippets containing text appear in SERPs alongside featured snippets approximately 25% of the time.
• Long-tail keywords are more likely to trigger AI-powered responses.
• In 27% of cases, no ads accompanied SGE snippets. In 73% of cases, ads were present.
• Ads at the top of the SERP accompany SGE snippets more often than shopping ads, but shopping ads tend to appear above the SGE snippet.

How often do SGE responses appear in search?

Our analysis shows that SGE responses frequently appear in Google search results. We found SGE content, including the ‘Generate’ button, in nearly 64% of SERPs for the analyzed keywords.

Here is our breakdown of the results after checking 100,013 keywords:

• SGE snippet: The SGE answer with text was generated for 18,455 keywords (about 18.5%).

• Generate SGE snippet: In 45,111 cases (45.1%), Google offered to generate an SGE answer via the Generate button.

• Technical SGE error: There were 24,105 cases (around 24.1%) in which Google couldn’t generate an SGE snippet.

• No SGE snippet: In 12,342 cases (around 12.3% of the total keywords analyzed), no SGE snippet appeared.

What is the average length of the text in SGE answers?

We measured the length of the text in SGE answers by character count to determine common text lengths. The text length range that most frequently appeared in the SGE snippet was between 3,044 and 4,646 characters. The average text length was approximately 3,485 characters.

How many links do SGE snippets contain?

We carefully checked in our study the number of links in the SGE snippets. We focused on the links in the SGE text response.

Let’s go over these numbers in more detail:

• Pre-click links: The biggest number of links observed before using the dropdown to expand the AI-powered answer was 70 links. However, the most frequently occurring number of pre-click links was just one link.

• Post-click links: When expanding the SGE snippet, the number of links increased. Our data showed that the typical number of post-click links was 8.

Do SGE snippets contain links to domains from the TOP 10 of organic search results?

We also checked to see if Google references high-ranking domains in its SGE responses. Out of the 18,455 checks (SERPs containing an SGE answer with text), we detected:

• 15,786 cases (85.5%) where the SGE snippets linked to at least one domain from the top 10 organic results.
• 2,669 cases (14.5%) where the SGE snippets had no overlap with the top organic domains.

Which sites are included in SGE snippets?

Our data indicates that the websites featured in SGE snippets are usually high-traffic, reputable resources with a wide focus. Here are the top 5 linked websites:

• Quora.com, linked 3,701 times.
• Local.google.com, linked 2,356 times.
• En.wikipedia.org, linked 2,124 times.
• Investopedia.com, linked 1,636 times.
• Linkedin.com, linked 1,244 times.

Which niches are more likely to get an SGE response?

We investigated 20 different niches, each of which was represented by approximately 5,000 keywords. The top 5 niches include:

• Food and Beverage: 33.2%
• Business: 27.2%
• Relationships: 25.9%
• Ecommerce and Retail: 25.7%
• Fashion and Beauty: 25.2%

These niches typically require more careful fact-checking. These are Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) sites that deal with sensitive information.

Does the number of words in a search query affect the appearance of an SGE snippet?

Our data shows a correlation between the number of words in search queries and the appearance of SGE snippets with text. Long-tail keywords being more likely to generate AI-powered responses.

Do featured snippets appear along with SGE snippets?

When an SGE snippet with text was present, featured snippets appeared 23.03% of the time.

Do ads appear along with SGE, and where?

When examining instances where an SGE snippet with text was present, ads appeared 23.19% at the top and 35.22% at the bottom. In our research, we also sought to identify the most popular location for shopping ads in the SGE SERP.

Methodology

We analyzed 100,013 keywords. This sample included different types of keywords:

• With varying search intents.
• With varying search volumes.
• With varying word counts (from single-word terms up to ten-word phrases).

We chose approximately 5,000 keywords from each of the 20 niches listed below:

1. Business
2. Career and Jobs
3. Cars
4. Ecommerce and Retail
5. Education
6. Entertainment and Hobbies
7. Fashion and Beauty
8. Finance
9. Food and Beverage
10. Healthcare
11. Insurance
12. Legal
13. News and Politics
14. Pets
15. Real Estate
16. Relationships
17. Self-Care and Wellness
18. Sports and Exercise
19. Technology
20. Travel

This study has shed some light on Google’s AI-powered responses, and much remains uncertain. We’ll be keeping a close eye on SGE’s latest developments.